Saturday:
Exactly one week before our wedding day, we were at my parents house getting last minute decorations together. My mom and aunt had been shopping the day before for centerpieces and lights, so Mom and I sat down and figured out exactly how we wanted the tables to look. My dad was put in charge of making our dance floor, which he did out of old flooring that we used to have in our house. So Saturday, he put all the pieces together and we spent some time cleaning that up making it look good as new. He also built our guest sign, so he spent some time on Saturday finishing that up and adding our favorite pineapple to it. My sister Kayla and brother Khyne were also at the house with us that afternoon helping us put batteries in all the candles that we bought. That was originally the purpose for all of us meeting at the house that day, but in reality putting the batteries in the candles took the least amount of time. We also put the final touches on the memory window that we made. My cousin Brandi made stickers for us to attach to the window for each person's name and a sweet quote, so my dad helped us do that (he's the king at putting stickers on things straight). My mom made dinner for all of us, and we just spent time together before all the busyness really began!
Sunday:
On Sunday, we relaxed for the most part just soaking in the calm before the storm haha! I was finishing up getting all our wedding party gifts wrapped or in bags. We worked on our vows and made sure our house was clean. I started doing laundry and making sure everything was in order before we left for the week. We had dinner with my best friend Cynthia and our goddaughter Sophia, and really just took some time to prepare ourselves for what we knew without a doubt would be the best week of our lives!
Monday:
Monday of our wedding week was a fairly normal day. Al and I were both still working, and we didn't really have any projects that weren't already done that we could get done that far in advance. I had to take our cotton and magnolia leaves to the florist for her to begin working on my bouquet. We also picked up Al's suit from Men's Wearhouse. Aside from working, we spent the majority of the day trying to gather everything together what would be leaving our house and going to my parents' house or the reception venue. We wanted to make sure we didn't forget anything and that everything would be clean when we got back home from our honeymoon. It was the best Monday ever though because we were getting married in FIVE days!
Tuesday:
The Tuesday before the wedding was when our first out-of-town guests started arriving. Tuesday was my last day of work for the next week and a half, so I couldn't really do too many wedding activities. I ended up having to take more leaves to the florist just to make sure she would have enough. We planned to have dinner at my parents' house Tuesday night because my Pops had gotten into town. That night we worked out all the last minute details of who would be staying at which beach house and when other people would start arriving into town. Kayla had to sit down with me and help me plan out my life for the next week. I seriously had a to-do list for each day, just so I wouldn't forget to do something. Top of my list was packing for the next week and a half. I hate packing, so I obviously procrastinated on that. It got done though, as always. I was so glad that my Pops was in town and that he was just the start of all the sweet family and friends we would be seeing over the next week! When I left my parents' house that night, I stopped by Al's cousin Mallary's house to drop of the sign our sweet ring bearer Lucas would be carrying. He had been practicing all week, and I was finally able to get the sign to him to make sure he could practice with it beforehand. Then I went home with the intention of starting to pack, but I fell asleep and conquered that task the next day.
Wednesday:
Whew, Wednesday was a doozie. I knew that Wednesday would be the busiest day of wedding week, but even then I still don't feel like I was prepared. I spent a little bit of the morning trying to pack and organize. The original plan was that I was going to stay the night at the beach house my parents rented starting on Wednesday because my sister, brother-in-law, and niece were going to be getting into town. However, that didn't happen because of the dreaded packing... but it all turned out okay! Around mid-morning, I went and met my mom at her office so we could ride together to Costco. We had to get all the food for the mocktail hour and waters for the entire night, and we figured buying in bulk was the way to go. After leaving Costco, I got a call from the FedEx man telling me that he couldn't leave the greenery we ordered at our house without a signature. He was super nice though and offered to meet us somewhere else so that I could sign for it and get it since we needed it to make the bridesmaids' bouquets that afternoon. We went on a wild goose chase trying to find him, but finally got the greenery from him in time to meet my friend Meredith at my house for her to make the bouquets. I was able to stay with Meredith through most of the bouquet-making. I am so thankful to her for taking the time to do that for us. They were absolutely beautiful, and I am so glad she was the one to do it. I left a little early to head to my high school to get some lanterns that my Mama Chellie was letting me borrow. I thought that was going to be an ordeal because of the "everything closet" those lanterns were hidden in, but Ms. Chellie had already pulled them out and had them waiting for me by the time I got there. After I loaded those up in the car, I drove back to my house in Leland so that Al and I could ride together to my family's dinner. I had decided by that point to stay at my house one more night to get everything together for the weekend. We had dinner with Kayla, Khyne, my dad, Pops, and Harris (while Mom, Courtney, and Lorelei hung out at the beach house) as a welcome to town celebration for the Ligons. Afterwards, we went back to the beach house for a little bit so Al and I could see Lorelei, and then we came home where I actually attempted packing for a third time until I passed out in pure exhaustion.
Thursday:
Thursday was a fun day, and it was the kick-off to wedding weekend. This was Al's last day of work before the wedding and honeymoon, and I know he was ready to be done so he could help with wedding festivities. That morning, I got all our stuff packed up and ready to go for when me and some of my girls came to get it later on. I drove to the beach house my parents rented and dropped off some baking supplies for my sister. My sister Courtney and my Aunt Tonya baked all the pies for our reception, and Thursday was the day Courtney turned into Betty Crocker to knock hers out. I stayed for as long as I could to help her with pies and to play with Lorelei, but I left after a couple hours to drop off the boxes of lanterns at the church and go to my parents' house to help my mom and Aunt Wanda figure out what decorations went where. I wanted to help them put last minute decorations together, but I had a nail appointment with my girls in Leland, so all I really helped them do was load up the cars with ceremony and reception stuff and that was about it. I headed to Leland to meet Kayla, Brittany, and Cynthia at my favorite nail salon to get our nails done. By this point, I was feeling really relaxed and excited. I honestly couldn't believe that we were there getting our nails done for MY wedding. It was honestly surreal, but I am so thankful for my three girls who came with me and started off the weekend in such a fun way. After nails were done, we came back to my apartment to load up our packed bags and all the wedding stuff we had accumulated here over the last few months. All of us (Al included) headed over to Khyne's house and had dinner with him, Randy, Bear, and Ellie while we waited for Khyne's mom (our planner Monika) to arrive at the reception venue. After our little pizza party, we made our way to the community center to put on chair covers and begin figuring things out for when the decorating started the next day. Between the group of us, we had the chair covers on in no time, and we were able to get most of the stuff unloaded from all the cars we had packed down. When I left the reception venue that night, I knew the next time I would be seeing it would be when it was all decorated and ready for our celebration. That was also the last time I would be seeing Ms. Monika until wedding day, which I just couldn't believe. Thursday really opened the door to me feeling like an actual bride, and I left that night feeling so blessed and excited about all the things God was going to do and all the joy He was going to bring that weekend.
Xoxo,
Mrs. Rising
